Make A Friend...Make A Difference

Mentoring Cochise Kids is a private, non-profit, community-based organization working to have a positive influence, through one on one relationships, with youth who are facing tough life challenges.

Mentoring Cochise Kids was founded by Sue Dupee in 2018, in Benson, AZ. Sue has been volunteering in youth programs most of her adult life beginning with forming free dog obedience courses for kids in the city of Columbus, Ohio. After relocating to the Phoenix area and transferring later to Benson for the bank she eventually retired from, she served as advisor for Junior Achievement teams in Tucson, and taught kids about money and banking at Secrist Middle School.

Finally, when the opportunity came along, she began mentoring at-risk youth with One On One Mentoring/Tucson for ten years while she lived in Benson. In most cases, her mentees lived in South Tucson. Her dream, for many years, has been to bring the One On One mentoring model to Benson and all of Cochise County.

Tom Webb, Principal of Benson Middle School, was one of the founding Board members of One On One Mentoring/Tucson, and once he became a Principal in Benson, saw the need for a youth mentoring program in Cochise County. Tom now serves on the Mentoring Cochise Kids Board of Directors.

Sue discovered that a youth could be mentored for an average of $1,500 per year vs. the cost in Arizona of around $70,000 per year to incarcerate that same youth. The cost of mentoring is far less to society and the impact on lives of the youth is far more positive.